Court papers detail skirmish before truck driver’s death
April 8, 2023 | By Mike Donoghue | Correspondent BURLINGTON – A traffic flagger has pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of a truck driver during a fight at a construction site on U.S. 2 in Bolton in November.
Paving along the U.S. 2 road reconstruction project in Richmond-Bolton in October 2022. VTrans photo
Whitney L. Grady, 42, is charged with repeatedly hitting David Cheney, 72, of East Montpelier about his body and fatally kicking him in the chest, according to the charge by Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah F. George.
State police said Grady is from Middlebury, but court papers list him as living on Jersey Street in Panton.
If convicted, Grady faces a minimum of 1 year in prison and a maximum of 15 years along with a fine up to $3,000. He was released on conditions after his arraignment Tuesday.
Vermont State Police Detective Trooper Mathew Nadeau provided the court with details of the interactions between the two men that day in an 18-page single-spaced affidavit to establish probable cause in the case.
Grady, who worked for Four Seasons Flagging in Poultney, and Cheney, who was self-employed as a trucker, had words at the construction throughout the day on Thursday, Nov. 10, state police said. Police said witnesses reported at one point Grady used his stop sign paddle to smash the windshield on Cheney's dump truck near the Notch Road in Bolton.
Grady struck Cheney several times after he climbed out of his truck, police said. Cheney later told family members and other witnesses that he got the "(expletive) kicked out of him," Nadeau said.
Cheney received blunt force trauma to his heart, inflicted by Grady, "in the form of a kick to the chest" while Cheney lay on the ground, Nadeau reported.
"The blunt force trauma caused a tear (dissection) in the coronary artery wall in Cheney's heart," Nadeau wrote. The tear also caused internal bleeding in Cheney's heart, which led to the trucker having a heart attack, he said. It ultimately caused his death a few hours after the assault, Nadeau wrote.
Dr. Elaine R. Amoresano, Vermont's deputy chief medical examiner, ruled the case a homicide based on the medical-legal investigation. Cheney also had multiple rib and sternal fractures and various injuries to the head, torso and upper and lower extremities, according to Amoresano's autopsy report.
Grady told police he is 6-feet tall and weighs about 195 pounds. He estimated Cheney was about 5-feet-6-inches and weighed about 125 pounds, Nadeau said. Joyce Cheney told police she believed her husband weighed 105 pounds.
Cheney got home about 3:15 p.m. about two hours after the fight and complained to his wife about his chest pains, police said. She told investigators that she gave her husband ice and a heating pad and two extra strength Tylenol, none of which helped. She drove him to Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin about 4:50 p.m. After an initial examination, a decision was made for an emergency transfer to the cardiac unit at the UVM Medical Center.
While Barre EMS was transporting Cheney to the Burlington hospital, he went into cardiac arrest, but was revived and spoke about 6:45 p.m. before going unconscious. Doctors continued to work on Cheney when he arrived in Burlington, but he was pronounced dead at 7:18 p.m., police said.
Worksite dispute escalates
The day after the fight, Richmond Police Officer Kevin Wilson stopped at the construction site seeking witnesses, but soon learned the incident happened in Bolton. He then saw a computer entry that state police had opened a case. Wilson told the defendant's wife, Michelle Grady, who also is a flagger, that Cheney had died and she subsequently told her husband that information, Nadeau said.
Vermont State Police did not issue a news release about the incident until Nov. 15, five days after the fight. The short, vague news release did not report that Cheney had died after the altercation. It listed no names of the individuals involved. It mainly said that state police were seeking witnesses to a fight at an unspecified construction site on U.S. 2.
On March 30, police issued an update with news of Grady’s arrest and order to appear in state court to answer to the manslaughter charge.
Work on the $20.4 million road project took place all summer and into late fall 2022. It involves a major reconstruction and repaving of 8.2 miles of U.S. 2 between the Williston/Richmond line eastward into Bolton. Kubricky Construction Corp. of Queensbury, New York, was selected as the main contractor for the state project, which is using subcontractors including the F.W. Whitcomb Construction Company. VTrans has said the work should be completed in 2024.
The detective’s affidavit outlines how it was Mark Woolaver, an inspector for the state of Vermont who broke up the fight between Grady and Cheney.
Woolaver, 59, reported Grady grabbed Cheney by the chest and pushed him against the truck, Nadeau said. Grady then punched Cheney at least twice, which caused him to fall to the ground, police said. Woolaver said Grady then kicked the victim at least once, Nadeau wrote.
Woolaver told police that Grady backed away and Cheney got back into his truck.
Grady, the flagger, then tried to keep Cheney in place and let other vehicles go around him. That is when the stop sign paddle was used to damage the windshield on Cheney’s truck, police said. Grady then poked the stop sign paddle through the driver's side window in an attempt to strike Cheney, Woolaver told police.
Following the fight, George Adkins, the job superintendent for Kubricky Construction, said Cheney explained he had been beaten, but declined medical attention, police said. The affidavit states that Adkins then told Grady he was done – that his conduct was unacceptable. Adkins then brought in another flagger.
Adkins reported to police that Grady responded, "If I'm getting fired, I will go wait at the plant and kick the old man's (expletive)."
Both Grady's wife, Michelle, 51, and his stepson, Stephan Belanger, 29, were working as flaggers at the construction site, police said.
Belanger told police that he had never seen Whitney Grady show any rage and noted he likes to smoke pot and chill out, Nadeau said in his court affidavit.
A witness account in the affidavit filed with the court is from Dennis Blanchard, a trucker for All Seasons Excavating. He told investigators that he was directly behind Cheney in line at the construction site and he saw the fight between the two men. He said that his and Cheney’s trucks had been stopped for about 15 minutes by Grady. When they finally began moving, Blanchard said he saw Grady wave his middle finger at Cheney. That was when Cheney stopped and got out of his truck, and exchanged words with the flagger, Blanchard told police.
By Blanchard’s account, the flagger hit the trucker five or six times and then kicked him in the mid-section, police reported.
The state police affidavit also includes a statement from Grady who described Cheney as a "stick in the mud." He told police that Cheney would wave and smile at his wife, but not at him. Grady said the day of the fight was only the second day he saw Cheney's truck at the job site.
Grady told police that the Nov. 10 fight ensued after Cheney went to drive past him and he called the flagger a nasty name. Grady said he reciprocated and offered the trucker a one-finger salute, Nadeau reported. Cheney stopped his truck and started to step out when Grady challenged him to fight, police said.
Grady and his wife declined to discuss the suspect's history and prior incidents of violence documented by law enforcement, Nadeau said in his affidavit.
Cheney and his wife, Joyce, had three children. He owned Cheney Trucking and had past memberships with the Williamstown Fire Department, the Moose Club and the Canadian Club, according to his obituary in the Times Argus.